Noncompliance, defined in medical parlance as the failure to follow through with therapy as prescribed by one's physician, has long been recognized as a major impediment to improved patient health. Nowhere is the problem of noncompliance more evident than in the taking of prescription medication.
Reasons for failure to take medications as prescribed, in either the proper dosage or at the specified time(s), range from honest forgetfulness or misunderstanding to the rare patient who mentally denies existence of the illness for which the medication was prescribed. It has been recognized that the more frequently a medication must be taken, the less likely is the patient's compliance. For this reason, pharmaceutical companies spend incalculable sums of time and money developing medications that need only be taken once daily. However, because of difficulties with absorption, biodegradation, renal elimination, and so on, many medications are not amenable to once daily dosing regimens.
For the patient who must take three, four or more medications daily, each requiring three of four dosages daily, it can quickly become confusing as to what medication and dose need be taken when. Many patients carry written "timetables" with them, sometimes with actual pills or capsules taped to them, to help them take their medications. If they should forget to look at this timetable, or should they be distracted, however, it would not be uncommon to miss one or more medications. The cost of noncompliance can be counted in both human suffering as well as monetary terms, particularly as health care expense is an increasing part of our nation's economic output. Hence, any device which can improve compliance should produce both social as well as economic benefits.